US President Donald Trump addresses the press in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on November 20, 2020 in Washington, DC.
Tasos Katopodis | Getty Images
President Donald Trump suggested on Saturday that China may have been behind a cyber attack that hit multiple U.S. government agencies and companies, despite Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s allegation hours earlier that Russia was likely behind the attack.
The allegation adds confusion to an already complex situation as cybersecurity officers strive to track down a hack that came to light less than a week ago. At the time, Reuters, citing people familiar with the case, reported that attackers had ties to Russia.
“Russia is the most important chant when something happens because Lamestream, for mostly financial reasons, is petrified of …….. few tweets.
Russia has been a sensitive topic for Trump. An investigation led by Robert Mueller found that the Russian government had interfered with the 2016 election that led to Trump becoming president. Trump said in 2019 that he had never worked for Russia, after The New York Times reported that the Federal Bureau of Investigation had started investigating whether he had been influenced by the Kremlin.
Management software maker SolarWinds’ share has fallen nearly 40% in the past week, highlighting how many organizations had installed updates for software that contained a vulnerability likely introduced by attackers between March and June. Cisco, Microsoft and VMware are among the companies that have said they have been affected in recent days.
The Energy Department confirmed on Thursday that the attack had reached its corporate networks. Last weekend, the Commerce Department said it had been breached, and NBC News reported that the White House National Security Council said it was investigating a possible breach with the Treasury Department.
Senator Marco Rubio, a Republican representing Florida, said in a Saturday tweet that it was “increasingly apparent that Russian intelligence has carried out the largest cyber-burglary in our history.”
SolarWinds itself has not attributed any debt to any particular country.
“Although security professionals and other experts have attributed the attack to an outside nation-state, we have not independently verified the identity of the attacker,” the company said in a regulatory filing Thursday.
WATCH: The magnitude of a suspected Russian hack is growing as more organizations reveal breaches